Introduction
Last year I had the privilege of interning for assemblywoman Catharine Baker. She represents the 16th Assembly district which includes orinda and surrounding towns. There was about fifteen other interns and we each tried our hardest to contribute towards the campaign and help the assemblywoman enact her agenda.The internship was informative and enjoyable.
Internship Logs
June 19th,2.5 hours: Today I took calls from constituents and answered their questions. The majority of the calls focused on policy changes and also the availability of campaign merchandise. After the calls, I went over some changes to the platform. It lasted about three hours
June 21st,3 hours: Today I manned the phone banks and called constituents asking for support and if they could answer a quick questionnaire. The majority of people didn't pick up but those who did were nice and courteous.
June 22nd, 2 hours: There was a bit of a change today as I was finally able to go canvassing. Which is where we go and knock on doors in order to garner support. It was very successful and we were able to get some new supporters and we even got a Democrat to pledge her support for a Republican candidate.
June 27th,2.5 hours: Today was what we call “campaign School” where we discussed policy and many Republicans and a few Democrats made revisions to a proposed platform. We also came to the conclusion that high-speed rail was impossible to pay for.
July 4th,2.5 hours: today we organized a parade for the fourth of July where everyone works hard and we achieved a great parade.
July 7th,3 hours: On this day I went back to the Phone bank and took calls for what seemed like an eternity. I also was awarded a star path from reaching 750 calls which I thought was pretty impressive.
July 10th, 2 hours: Today we have a campaign event where we had a barbecue with supporters and honors it was a fun meaningful experience.
July 12th, 2.5 hours: Today we just hanged low and took calls for about an hour then we had root beer floats delivered by another intern the float was pretty good.
Internship Reflection
Over my high school career, I’ve participated in numerous extra-curricular activities. One of my absolute favorites was the internship I did last year. This internship was with Assemblywoman Catherine Baker who represents the 16th assembly district (Walnut Creek and Pleasanton). She is the only Republican elected official in the bay area so it was a distinct honor to be able to intern for her. Before I was able to start the internship I had to fill out a lengthy application. Which turned out to be quite good. After the application was finished I meet with the campaign manager William Graswich who had helped with Jeff Sessions campaign in Alabama as well as the campaigns of other Republicans including Arnold Schwarzenegger. We had a great discussion and he decided to hire me. When I walked into the campaign on my first day I felt a little nervous. This quickly subsided when I began my first duty as an intern. My first task was to learn how to use the phones. There was a special system they used which had to be taught to me. After that, I could begin using the phones to call constituents and ask them who they planned to vote for. Most of the time they didn't pick up and half the time they weren't interested but occasionally i would talk to a very well informed person who had a lot to talk about and ask of their representative. In thescases, I felt privileged to offer what help I could.
One aspect of the internship that surprised me was how laid back they were. Even during peak election seasons I never witnessed the clamoring and hectic campaigns of the movies every time I arrived it was quite expected for the occasional phone ring. I appreciated the quiet environment and I think it aided me in my work. Perhaps the largest challenge i faced was transportation I live in Berkeley and the Internship was in Walnut Creek so I had difficulty getting there. Eventually, I was able to create a system where I would combine ride-share services like Uber and lyft with taking BART. This system turned out to be cheap and effective.
Another challenge that was somewhat difficult to overcome was the issue of long and hostile callers. Sometimes I would get constituents who would go for a very long amount of time on the phone these people were usually old and had lots of time on their hands. One woman had twenty questions for the Assembly-Woman and I had to write them all down. It was hard to find a way to tell these long caller that I had to go without being rude or losing their vote. I eventually overcame this and developed a strategy where I would just say that with such a long request it's better to email the campaign. This helped and I was able to reach the majority of people on the phones.
In conclusion, this internship was a very worthwhile experience. It taught me to address my problems straight on and find worthwhile and good solutions to the problem that i encountered.